In April 2023 the World Trade Organization (WTO) had forecast that merchandise trade volumes would likely grow 1.7% that year. However, disruptions in the Red Sea region coupled with a global economic slowdown will likely lead to a less than 0.8% increase, well short of the WTO's April projection, the organisation’s chief Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala said at the 13th Ministerial Conference (MC13) in Abu Dhabi last week.